Hi - this is Srinivasan Sampathkumar from Triplicane. I have a passion for Marine Insurance, Cricket and of course Temples especially Thiruvallikkeni.
From Sept 2009, I am posting my thoughts in this blog ; From July 2010, my postings on Temples & Tamil are on my other blog titled "Kairavini Karayinile " (www.tamil.sampspeak.in)
Request you to keep providing your feedback which will help me improve and present better.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Not many
would have sat to watch day 4 of India Bangladesh Test no. 2249 at Uppal,
Hyderabad. At stumps, Bangla were 103/3
requiring another 356 or not lose 7 wickets to save the Test. On 25th over of 2nd
innings, Mominul Haque found himself awkwardly placed to a ball that turned
sharply, his defensive push resulted in an edge for a catch to Rahane at slips ….
.. .. and that was wicket no. 250 for
Ravichandran Ashwin ~ another great milestone.

Recall that
only in Sept. 2016, Ashwin became the 2nd
fastest bowler to claim 200 wickets. Kiwis were faltering on chase – Ash on high !
– Over : 9.1 – Ravichandran Ashwin to Ross Taylor, ball spins like a top – from wide outside
off, it keeps coming in – Taylor has no clue at all – stands erect in front –
leg stump visible – massive appeal – Umpire Kettleborough says no ! - what !! – it could have missed either leg or
off but certainly not the middle – Ashwin denied rich celebrations… that
was 200, a great number – more so, for the bowler – not
many reach there –

India was
hailed as land of spinners – when the famous quartet Bishan Bedi,
Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Venkatraghavan prospered – there were the
likes of VV Kumar, Doshi, Shivalkar, Goel, Hans, Dhiraj Parsana, Ramnarayan, Shukla, Raghuram Bhat and more – who could
not make the cut over the dominance of the quartet and Ranji matches were
‘bowler-dominated !’. Dilip Rasiklal Doshi,
was one of only two Test bowlers who played in their first tests after
the age of thirty, yet went on to take 100 wickets, the other being Clarrie
Grimmett. There have been some quality
off-spinners apart from Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivasan Venkatraghavan. Harbhajan was quite successful – remember his bowling during that
Aussie tour in 2001, and that Kolkatta hat-trick.... there was Shivlal Yadav
too (M Venkatramana, Ashish Kapoor, Ashok Patel, Arshad Ayub, Sarandeep Singh,
Gopal Sharma) – all Off-spinners, who played for India at some point of
time. Ravichandran Ashwin prospered so
well at home, and gone longway proving his mettle !

Ashwin’s
200 in 37 matches placed him just ahead of Dennis Lillee and Waqar
Younis, behind only former Australia leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett on 36. But for two rain-affected Tests in the West
Indies series, he was a good chance to beat Grimmett to the mark. Ashwin got
there in his 37th Test while Grimmett
took 36.

He tormented
the visiting Kiwis and his enormous form
continued against England as he took 28 wickets in the five-match Test series
while in the three matches he played against New Zealand, Ashwin claimed 27
wickets.

Now into
the elite club of 45, Ravi Ashwin is the fastest. Other in top 5 are the legendary Dennis
Lillee(Australia) – 48 Tests; Dale Steyn(South Africa)- 49 Test; Allan
Donald(Australia)- 50 Tests & Waqar Younis(Pakistan) – 51 Tests – no spinners
there.

Dennis
the menace Lillee was complemented by Jeff Thomson and good catching by Rodney
Marsh and other close catchers – then there was the home advantage and some
decisions that always went in his favour.
Off his over all 70 tests, in which he took 355, Lillee played 44 Tests
at home taking 231 wickets.

News from
Down Under states that former
Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has left cricketing officials baffled by
failing to turn up to court in person or have legal representation in his $2.6
million case against Cricket Australia. MacGill issued a writ against CA in
January 2015 claiming he was owed $1.6 million in match payments and
prizemoney, and almost $1 million in interest, plus costs. MacGill, who played
44 Tests and claimed 208 wickets at 29.01, had claimed CA had neglected or
failed to pay him injury payments over a two-year period from May 2008 when he
was unable to play Test cricket because of injury. The final amount of
$1,640,890 included tour payments for 15 away Test matches ($846,090), tour
payments for 11 home game Test matches ($140,800), retainer payments at
$297,000 for 52 weeks, retainer payments at $333,000 for 52 weeks and
prizemoney for nine Test series at $27,000. In the writ, MacGill said CA had
signed him for one year and offered him a further one-year contract for 2008-09
campaign before he was "incapable" of playing as a result of
"injuries and complications from injuries".